Senate passes mammoth $1.2T spending package after brief partial government shutdown
The Senate passed a controversial six-bill government funding package on Saturday after a brief government shutdown. Senators voted in favor of passing the $1.2 trillion spending package by a vote of 74-24. The text for the group of bills was only unveiled in the early hours of Thursday morning, angering several Republicans in the upper chamber. The appropriations measures were considered in the House on Friday morning, ultimately passing by a vote of 286–134, with a majority of Republicans, 112, voting against them. Prior to the package’s approval by the upper chamber, the outlook for avoiding a partial government shutdown looked bleak, as Republican senators claimed Democrats were unwilling to take up their requested amendment votes. It was only in the last hour that senators appeared to have reached an agreement, returning to the chamber floor and exchanging papers prior to beginning the voting process. HOUSE PASSES $1.2 TRILLION GOVERNMENT SPENDING BILL TO AVERT GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN A $460 billion funding package that included six of the twelve appropriations bills passed in both chambers earlier this month, despite vocal Republican opposition to the amount being spent, what the money is being put toward, and what they described as breaches of procedure. The two-pronged appropriations process was outlined in a continuing resolution (CR) last month, which designated March 8 as the deadline for the first half of spending bills and March 22 for the last half. The stopgap measure was the fourth of its kind since the initial appropriations deadline of Sept. 30, 2023. TERM LIMITS, PREVENTING LEADER ‘MONARCHY’ BECOME TOP CONCERNS IN POST-MCCONNELL GOP Several Republican senators slammed the last-minute release of the bill text on Thursday, criticizing plans to vote on Friday and being given only a day to read through the 1,012-page package. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, told Fox News Digital it was an “utterly absurd, insulting and lawless suggestion that that is an appropriate legislative process.” “This is a crazy way to run the country,” added Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla. RUBIO SAYS BEING TRUMP RUNNING MATE WOULD BE ‘INCREDIBLE HONOR’ With the Senate’s passage, the spending package now heads to President Biden’s desk to be signed. After several stopgap bills to push spending bill deadlines, the government is set to be fully funded until the Sept. 30, 2024 deadline for fiscal year 2025 appropriations bills. It’s unclear whether Congress will be able to avoid the same funding disagreements it faced in the fiscal year 2024 spending negotiations, given the divide between parties will remain just as narrow. Some Republican lawmakers have noted that the drawn out appropriations process has already started interfering with discussions for next year’s spending.
Senator calls TikTok ‘a weapon,’ says the American people ‘need to know the chilling truth’ about it
U.S. Senators are demanding the Director of National Intelligence to declassify information on TikTok and its parent company ByteDance, citing “significant risks” to U.S. national security. Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, shared a letter on X Friday that he co-wrote with Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, urging Director Avril Haines to declassify a report about TikTok “in order to better inform the American people about the significant risks the social media platform’s Chinese ownership poses to our national security.” In the tweets, the Democrat said he was “demanding declassification of TikTok facts — because the American people deserve and need to know the chilling truth about TikTok — it’s a clear & present threat to national security & privacy.” He added: “It’s a weapon pointed at Americans that all should see clearly.” TRUMP WARNS LAWMAKERS THAT IF THEY BAN TIKTOK, USERS WILL FLOCK TO ‘WORSE’ PLATFORM FACEBOOK The lawmakers’ request comes as the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a resolution forcing the Chinese-owned ByteDance to divest from China. “American intelligence and law enforcement officials on a bipartisan basis have repeatedly raised alarms that the Chinese government can use its direct and absolute control over ByteDance to exert malign influence over what users see on TikTok & spy on their private information,” Blumenthal wrote. “As we consider steps to separate TikTok from the Chinese gov’t, the American people must understand the national security issues at stake,” he continued. “I’m urging the declassification of information about TikTok/ByteDance.”, BIPARTISAN SENATORS SHARE TIKTOK CONCERN FOLLOWING ‘POWERFUL’ NATIONAL SECURITY BRIEFING The comments come just days after a bipartisan group of senators raised alarm over TikTok and its influence over its users. The group of lawmakers left a national security briefing regarding TikTok on Wednesday with “deep concern” ahead of a Senate vote on the House-passed bill. “We had a full hearing room in the classified briefing and there was deep concern about the threat from TikTok on both sides of the aisle,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas described. “The threats that are posed are significant,” he stressed. Chairman of the Intelligence Committee Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., similarly exited the “very powerful briefing” urging to quickly declassify the material. “I think there was a reason why, when this brief was given on the House side to the Energy and Commerce Committee, afterwards they voted 50 to nothing to move the legislation forward,” Warner said. Warner previously criticized the voluminous data that TikTok could access from its users was a “national security concern.” How soon the U.S. Senate could take up the House-passed bill is not immediately clear as bill was referred last week to the committee. Fox News’ Julia Johnson contributed to this report.
Government partially shuts down as Senate fails to take up $1.2T spending package in time
The Senate failed to pass a $1.2T government spending package that was approved by the House earlier on Friday, ushering in a partial government shutdown. The upper chamber’s Republicans and Democrats did not reach a deal in which they would forego a lengthy period of debate and swiftly take a vote on the spending bills in time to avoid the shutdown. Due to disagreements between the parties on whether to consider several amendments, the bills weren’t passed prior to the 12:01 a.m. deadline on Saturday. However, within the 11 p.m. hour on Friday night, the parties appeared to reach an agreement, with senators returning to the floor. Two senior GOP Senate sources confirmed to Fox News Digital that votes on amendments and the spending package are expected shortly after midnight. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced that an agreement was reached on the floor with only minutes until midnight, adding that several amendment votes would take place first. The House passed the appropriations measures in the late morning on Friday by a vote of 286 to 134. However, the majority of Republican representatives voted against the package, demonstrating the deep-running resentment of the spending bills’ content and the procedure they followed. REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE CALLS FOR VOTE TO OUST SPEAKER JOHNSON OVER SPENDING DEAL This unhappiness was evident among Senate Republicans as well, several of whom refused to allow the group of bills to pass in an expedited fashion in order to avoid a partial government shutdown unless Democrats would be willing to take votes on several amendments, including multiple that were focused on the southern border and illegal immigration. But the Democrats were similarly unwilling to take votes on all the GOP-requested amendments, particularly those with the capability of passing with bipartisan support, as they would send the package back to the house. They were also against voting on any amendments related to illegal immigration, as they might harm vulnerable senators up for re-election in November, GOP Senate sources told Fox News Digital. TOP GOP LAWMAKER ANNOUNCES EARLY EXIT, LEAVING REPUBLICANS WITH TEMPORARY ONE-SEAT MAJORITY The government is technically in a partial shutdown, but given the fact that the shutdown occurred during non-work hours and ahead of a weekend, the full affects won’t be felt unless it extends until Monday. If a spending package is not passed by then, the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Labor, and Health and Human Services, as well as Financial Services and General Government, the legislative branch, and State and Foreign Operations will be affected. Other areas of the government won’t experience any gaps in funding, as the first $460 billion package was passed on March 8 to fund the Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Justice and Commerce departments, Energy and Water Development, the Department of Interior, and Transportation and Housing. While the Senate only failed to pass the second of the two six-bill packages, those six appropriations are set to fund departments that make up nearly 70% of the federal government. The affected government departments and agencies are now required to shut down, but they won’t completely cease operating. TIM SCOTT LABELS SCHUMER’S CALL FOR ISRAELI LEADER CHANGE ‘ELECTORAL INTERFERENCE’ Certain roles and functions of workers and their various departments and agencies deemed essential are required to continue, though they will not be paid during the lapse in government funding. For example, officers with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will continue to work and allow travel functions, and active-duty military members will also continue their duties, which are necessary to U.S. national security. The government cannot continue its full regular functions until Congress passes appropriations to resume funding.
‘India stands in solidarity with Russia’: PM Modi condemns ‘heinous terrorist attack’ in Moscow
Assailants burst into a large concert hall in Moscow on Friday and sprayed the crowd with gunfire, killing more than 60 people, injuring over 100 and setting fire to the venue in a brazen attack, according to media reports.
Laken Riley amendment at center of Senate standoff in partial government shutdown battle
An amendment named after slain Augusta University 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley from Georgia is at the center of a Senate showdown over the $1.2 trillion spending package that must pass before midnight to avoid a partial government shutdown. The Laken Riley Act has been introduced as an amendment to the six-bill appropriations package by Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., but sources have told Fox News Digital that Democrats are unwilling to agree to a vote on it. REPUBLICAN SENATORS INTRODUCE BILL TO BLOCK MIGRANTS FROM USING BORDER PATROL APP AS ID AT TSA CHECKPOINTS His modified Laken Riley Act would stop illegal immigrants from gaining citizenship or legal status if they’ve ever committed burglary, theft, or shoplifting. Budd’s second proposed amendment to the spending bills is also immigration-related, and also being contested in negotiations. The amendment would similarly prevent illegal immigrants from becoming legal or citizens if they’ve assaulted a law enforcement officer. Budd said in an exclusive statement to Fox News Digital, “We know that the Biden administration would love nothing more than to grant legal status to illegal aliens who are unlawfully living in this country. So I am fighting to defund the ability of the Biden administration to grant any sort of legal status to any illegal alien who commits crimes like assaulting a law enforcement officer; as well as theft and shoplifting.” HOUSE PASSES $1.2T GOVERNMENT SPENDING BILL TO AVERT GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN Three GOP Senate sources told Fox News Digital that a specific obstacle to consideration of the immigration-related amendments is Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., who frequently postures himself as a moderate and is up for re-election in a competitive match-up in November. The sources detailed he is particularly against being on record on the Laken Riley Act. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., called Tester out by name on X, formerly known by Twitter, on Friday night. “Tonight, @TheDemocrats are shutting down the United States government because they don’t want @jontester to have to vote against OPEN BORDERS in an election year. I can’t wait for @SheehyforMT to send him packing. #MAGA,” he wrote. Republican Minority Whip John Thune similarly blamed Democrats for the nearly inevitable shutdown. “Make no mistake, if the government shuts down, it will be because of one thing and one thing only: Democrat leaders protecting vulnerable incumbents from taking hard votes,” he said on X. However, Tester is pushing back on the idea. “This is false and Senator Tester is happy to debate amendments. He is pushing his colleagues to hire more border patrol agents, secure our border, and crack down on fentanyl,” spokesperson Eli Cousin told Fox News Digital in a statement. MILLIONS FOR LATE-TERM ABORTION CLINIC, TRANSGENDER DEVICES BURIED DEEP IN $1.2T SPENDING PACKAGE But the immigration amendments aren’t the only hang-up in the Senate’s negotiations to bring the spending package to the floor for a vote. According to two senior Republican Senate sources, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., refuses to allow a vote on any amendments that are “germane” or might pass with bipartisan support. “Anything that can pass would send the bill back to the House,” a source in Schumer’s office shared with Fox News Digital. If any amendments to the spending package are passed, the bills would head back to the House to be voted on again. This would ultimately trigger a partial shutdown, which the Senate negotiators were hoping to avoid.
Marjorie Taylor Greene moves to disbar Fani Willis: ‘Unfit to serve’
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a complaint for the disbarment of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over her “illicit affair” with a top prosecutor in her Georgia election interference case against former President Trump. “Today, I’m filing a complaint to disbar Fulton County DA Fani Willis for her corrupt actions,” Rep. Greene, R-GA, wrote in an X post on Wednesday. Greene’s post came after Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee on Wednesday issued a certificate of immediate review, allowing Trump and eight co-defendants to seek an appeal of the order. “Fani should’ve been removed from her political persecution of President Trump after it was revealed she went on lavish vacations with her lover Nathan Wade,” Greene wrote. “The lover she paid HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of dollars!” “Unfit to serve!” she added. FANI WILLIS’ ‘SORDID SCANDAL’ COULD MAKE FINDING A JURY IN THE TRUMP CASE ‘MUCH HARDER’: EXPERTS McAfee ruled that lawyers for Trump and several co-defendants charged in the election interference case “failed to meet their burden of proving” an “actual conflict of interest in this case” after alleging Willis benefited from hiring special prosecutor Nathan Wade Willis was accused of having an “improper” affair with Nathan Wade, the special counsel whom she hired to help prosecute the case. Trump and several co-defendants said Willis was romantically linked with Wade prior to his hiring and alleged that she was financially benefiting from the position he held in her office. Both Willis and Wade denied the allegations. Wade offered his resignation in a letter to Willis on March 15, saying he was doing so “in the interest of democracy, in dedication to the American public and to move this case forward as quickly as possible.” “I will always remember — and will remind everyone — that you were brave enough to step forward and take on the investigation and prosecution of the allegations that the defendants in this case engaged in a conspiracy to overturn Georgia’s 2020 Presidential Election,” Willis wrote in a letter accepting his resignation. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE FILES MOTION TO OUST SPEAKER JOHNSON “You are an outstanding advocate,” she added. On his Truth Social platform, Trump said Wade resigned in “disgrace.” “Nathan was the ‘Special,’ in more ways than one, Prosecutor ‘engaged’ by Fani (pronounced Fauni!) Willis, to persecute TRUMP for Crooked Joe Biden and his Department of Injustice, for purposes of Election Interference and living the life of the Rich & Famous,” he wrote. “This is the equivalent of Deranged Jack Smith getting ‘canned,’ BIG STUFF, something which should happen in the not too distant future!!!” Fox News has reached out to Rep. Greene for comment. Fox News’ Brianna Herlihy and Chris Pandolfo contributed to this report.
Pennsylvania lawmakers push to find out causes of death for older adults in abuse or neglect cases
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Republican state lawmakers are pushing Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration to do more to investigate the deaths of older adults who are the subject of an abuse or neglect complaint after Pennsylvania recorded a steep increase in such deaths, starting in 2019. Shapiro’s Department of Aging has balked at the idea raised by Republican lawmakers, who have pressed the department, or the county-level agencies that investigate abuse or neglect complaints, to gather cause of death information from death records. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE HELPS PREDICT SENIORS’ LONG-TERM CARE NEEDS: ‘CRITICAL NEXT STEPS’ Getting more information about the cause of death is a first step, Rep. Seth Grove, R-York, the ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, said in an interview Friday. “So you have the information, and then the next step is what do we do to protect them, to make sure they’re not on a fatality list somewhere,” Grove said. “That’s that next step, which is the important aspect. We need to get to it.” In a House Appropriations Committee hearing last month, Rep. John Lawrence, R-Chester, told Shapiro’s Secretary of Aging Jason Kavulich that it was “unacceptable” that the department isn’t already gathering that information when someone dies. “These folks end up dead after someone reported them as being vulnerable and … your agency is telling the press, ‘well, we really don’t know. We really can’t explain. Maybe they died of abuse or neglect. We didn’t really ask,’” Lawrence told Kavulich. Kavulich told Lawrence that the department is “collecting the data that the law has told us we need to.” Kavulich followed up in recent days with a letter to the House Appropriations Committee that noted caseworkers are supposed to contact the county coroner in cases where there is reason to suspect that the older adult died from abuse. But Kavulich also wrote that neither the department nor the county-level agencies have the “legal authority” to access cause of death information. Grove questioned that, saying death certificates are public record and that the department or county caseworkers should be able to request the information from a coroner or a health department. In a statement, Lawrence called Kavulich’s written response “an incoherent word salad that casts blame in every direction but fails to take any responsibility.” “It gives me great pause that I cannot get a simple answer to a simple question — why aren’t you asking why these seniors died?” Lawrence wrote. If the state attorney general’s office is not already looking into the matter, it should launch an investigation tomorrow, Lawrence wrote. Lawmakers raised questions since Pennsylvania recorded a more than tenfold increase in the deaths of older adults following an abuse or neglect complaint, from 120 in 2017 to 1,288 last year. They peaked at 1,389 in 2022. The department does not typically make the deaths data public and released it in response to a request by The Associated Press. The increase came as COVID-19 ravaged the nation, the number of complaints grew and agencies struggled to keep caseworkers on staff. The Department of Aging has suggested the data could be misleading since the deaths may have had nothing to do with the original abuse or neglect complaint. Department and county-level agency officials have speculated the increase could be attributed to a growing population of people 65 and older, an increase in complaints and the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on older adults. It’s not clear whether better data collection also helped explain the increase, but evidence suggests that other similar jurisdictions — such as Michigan and Illinois — did not see such a steep increase. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The broader death rate of older adults did not increase nearly as steeply during the pandemic, going from about 4% of those 65 and older in 2018 to 4.5% in 2021, according to federal statistics. The department has contracts with 52 county-level “area agencies for aging” to investigate abuse or neglect complaints and coordinate with doctors, service providers and if necessary, law enforcement. Most calls involve someone who lives alone or with a family member or caregiver. Poverty is often a factor.
Democratic state senator files paperwork for North Dakota gubernatorial bid
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A Democratic state senator in North Dakota is running for governor, a long-shot bid in the Republican-controlled state. State Sen. Merrill Piepkorn, of Fargo, wouldn’t confirm he is running for governor, but recently filed campaign finance paperwork for a candidate committee. He did say he is planning a press conference early next month. US NATIONAL PARK FACING REMOVAL OF WILD HORSES GAINS SUPPORT FROM CONGRESS “There’s a long process yet. There’s a convention. There’s an endorsement,” Piepkorn said. Piepkorn is president of a company that produces television, movie and radio projects and live events. He was first elected in 2016 to the North Dakota Senate, where Democrats hold four of 47 seats. Democrat and security guard Travis Hipsher, of Neche, also is running for governor. North Dakota’s Democratic-NPL Party will endorse a gubernatorial ticket next month at the party convention in Fargo. A Democrat last won the governor’s office in 1988. The party hasn’t won a statewide office since Heidi Heitkamp’s U.S. Senate victory in 2012; she lost reelection in 2018. Republican Gov. Doug Burgum is not seeking a third term. Republican Rep. Kelly Armstrong, the state’s single U.S. House member, and Lt. Gov. Tammy Miller are competing in the GOP primary for the party’s nomination for November. Burgum has endorsed Miller, whom he named to replace former Lt. Gov. Brent Sanford in December 2022. Independent Michael Coachman, an Air Force veteran of Larimore, also is running. Term limits, passed by voters in 2022, mean no future governor can be elected more than twice, though Burgum could have sought a third and even fourth term. The next governor will take office in mid-December, weeks before the biennial Legislature convenes. The governor is elected on a joint ticket with a lieutenant governor, but so far only Coachman has named a running mate.
West Virginia governor signs vague law allowing teachers to answer questions about origin of life
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia Republican Gov. Jim Justice signed a law Friday that supporters say promotes the free exchange of ideas in science classrooms, despite objections from opponents who said the vaguely worded measure could allow for the incursion of religion into public schools. The legislation allows public school teachers to answer student questions “about scientific theories of how the universe and/or life came to exist.” 4 DEAD IN WEST VIRGINIA HOUSEFIRE; SUSPECT REPORTEDLY COMMITTED SUICIDE It was proposed after Republican Senate Education Chair Amy Grady, a public school teacher, said fellow educators have told her they don’t feel comfortable answering questions about theories outside evolution because they don’t know if doing so is permissible. Speaking to the bill on the Senate floor in January, Grady said the bill is meant to clarify how teachers can approach these situations. “This says, ‘If a student asks you questions about a theory that they’ve read about or they’ve heard about — maybe it’s not a popular theory, but a theory — you can discuss it,’” she said. She said the bill is “encouraging our students to think, encouraging our students to ask questions, encouraging our teachers to be able to answer them.” What is unclear is what kinds of teaching would be protected by the bill, which does not define what a “scientific theory” is. Grady proposed a bill last year that would have specifically allowed intelligent design to be taught in public school settings. This year’s bill contained similar language when it was first proposed. It was reworked early in the legislative session to remove any direct mention of intelligent design before even being put in front of lawmakers. After the bill was altered, two high school students speaking in support of the bill in front of Grady’s committee said they wanted it passed so educators could have the option of offering teaching on intelligent design in addition to evolutionary theory — not as a requirement or a replacement for it. Teaching about intelligent design in public schools has been controversial for decades. Proponents of intelligent design contend that many features life of life and the universe are too complex to have evolved from natural selection and must have been created by an intelligent designer. That designer could be, but does not have to be, identified as God. They also claim that intelligent design is a scientific theory. Others have argued that intelligent design is just creationism in a new package. A federal court in Pennsylvania ruled in 2005 that a public school could not require the teaching of the concept because intelligent design “is not science” and that it “cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents.” Hurricane High School juniors Hayden Hodge and Hunter Bernard, both 16, said they are both religious but that intelligent design is not a religious argument and does not mention anything about God. “I am not advocating for Biblical Creationism, or Adam and Eve, or the Muslim and Jewish narrative. This is not a biblical narrative,” Hodge said, adding later: “Why not allow teachers to offer students multiple views? Students deserve to hear a multiple of theories and then follow which is more reasonable.” The National Center for Science Education said in a statement that the legislation is “threatening the integrity of science education in the state’s public schools.” Aubrey Sparks, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia, said the organization would be watching the law’s implementation closely. If the wording of the legislation is ambiguous to her, she said, it’s going to be ambiguous for teachers, students and parents, too. Staff is in the process of creating a portal for families to report concerns if they do see instances of religious teaching in public schools, Sparks said. “They pass things like this to try and institutionalize the place of religion in public schools,” she said. “If they wanted to keep religion and public schools separate, then they wouldn’t pass laws like this one.” When the bill passed the Senate in January, Democratic Sen. Mike Woelfel said he has no problem with anyone’s religious beliefs and that as a Catholic, he thinks God created life. But he said he doesn’t think that’s something that should be taught in public schools and expressed concern that the legislation could be used as a backdoor approach to do so. He asked Grady if the law would permit teachers to educate students about intelligent design, and she said yes. The definition of what constitutes a “scientific theory” is not included in the bill, Woelfel said. “What I do have a problem with is the constitution, which says, ‘If you have a bill, it’s got to be specific. It can’t be vague,’” he said. “People need to know what the bill says so they can follow the bill.” The Seattle-based Center for Science and Culture, the leading organization advocating for intelligent design acceptance and research, is against public schools teaching the concept. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Instead, the organization pushes for public school policies “protecting teacher academic freedom to discuss the scientific strengths and weaknesses of evolution without getting into alternative theories like intelligent design,” Center Associate Director Casey Luskin said. He said supporters’ “priority with intelligent design is to see it grow and develop as a science.” “When it gets brought into public schools, that politicizes the issue, and that politicization leads to witch hunts and discrimination against pro-ID scientists and faculty in the academy,” he said. The academic freedom approach, however, is “legal and helps greatly improve student learning.”
Wisconsin counties decline to prosecute campaign finance case against Trump committee
Prosecutors in three Wisconsin counties declined to pursue felony charges of campaign finance violations against former President Donald Trump’s fundraising committee and a Republican state lawmaker related to an effort to unseat Assembly Speaker Robin Vos. The prosecutors cited conflicts of interest, in some cases because they too are actively involved in their local Republican parties. The Wisconsin Ethics Commission, which recommended last month that charges be filed, announced the local prosecutors’ decisions in a memo prepared for a Friday meeting. Charges were also forwarded to district attorneys in three additional counties but they had yet to inform the commission of their plans. WISCONSIN GOV. EVERS VETOES GOP VOTING, ELECTION AUDIT BILLS; GREENLIGHTS POLITICAL AI CRACKDOWN The ethics commission was meeting Friday to vote on referring the charges to counties adjacent to the three that declined to prosecute. Ultimately, the state attorney general, Democrat Josh Kaul, could be asked to prosecute the cases. The commission alleges that Trump’s fundraising committee and state Rep. Janel Brandtjen, a Trump ally, conspired in a scheme to evade campaign finance laws to support the Republican primary challenger to Vos in 2022. Vos had angered Trump by firing a former state Supreme Court justice Vos had hired to investigate Trump’s discredited allegations of fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Vos launched the probe under pressure from Trump, but eventually distanced himself from Trump’s effort to overturn President Joe Biden’s win in Wisconsin. Trump and Brandtjen then tried to unseat Vos by backing a GOP primary opponent, Adam Steen. Trump called Steen a “motivated patriot” when endorsing him shortly before the 2022 primary. Vos, the longest-serving Assembly speaker in Wisconsin history, defeated Steen by just 260 votes. Steen is currently backing an effort to recall Vos from office. The ethics commission alleges that Trump’s Save America political action committee, Brandtjen, Republican Party officials in three counties and Steen’s campaign conspired to avoid state fundraising limits as they steered at least $40,000 into the effort to defeat Vos. The commission alleges that those involved took advantage of Wisconsin laws that allow for unlimited donations to political parties, but then illegally steered the money to Steen. State law caps individual donations to Assembly candidates at $1,000. The ethics commission recommended that charges be brought against the Trump fundraising committee, Brandtjen, Steen’s campaign, eight other individuals and three county Republican parties. Prosecutors in Chippewa, Florence and Langlade counties declined to prosecute. The allegations were also referred to district attorneys in Racine, St. Croix and Waukesha counties. Chippewa County District Attorney Wade Newell had said he would not pursue the charges because he is a member of the county Republican Party, which could be charged. Florence County District Attorney Doug Drexler said in a letter to the commission that he had a conflict of interest because he has been a member of the county Republican Party for more than 30 years and performed legal services for members of the party. Langlade County District Attorney Kelly Hays did not return a message seeking comment Friday.